CA "Black Plate"

[Christopher Hoffman <imperial67@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Roger and the list,

The pre-1963 plates that CA will allow you to reattach to another pre-1963
car are not what we consider black plates. That's basically because they are
yellow, though with black lettering.

Black plates (with yellow letters) were first issued in 1963, and at this
time there is no "Year of Manufacture" provision for legally reattaching
them to a 1963 or later car, unless you can prove that they are the original
plates assigned to your car when it was new (by producing the actual old
registrations). (And that doesn't seem to be a rule the DMV seems to make
known, though I managed to do it once.)

So a CA car with its black plates intact pretty much had them since new.

Just FYI!

Cheers,
Chris in LA

Rog & Jan van Hoy (vanhilla@xxxxxxxxxxxx) wrote:

> Yes, you CA residents, you CAN get black plates and put them
> on another car.  Below is the CA DMV code from their
> website, http://www.dmv.ca.gov/dmv.htm
> 
> I think it adds a lot to have the correct original plates on
> an older car, sort of the finishing touch as it were.
> 
> --Roger van Hoy, '55 DeSoto, '58 DeSoto, '42 DeSoto, '66
> Plymouth, '81 Imperial, Washougal, WA
> 
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> - - -
> Model Year Date License Plates
> 
> 
> 5004.1.   (a) An owner of any vehicle that is a 1962 or
> older model year vehicle may, after the requirements for the
> registration of the vehicle have been complied with and with
> the approval of the department, utilize license plates of
> this state with the date of year corresponding to the model
> year date when the vehicle was manufactured, if the model
> year date license plate is legible and serviceable, as
> determined by the department, in lieu of the license plates
> otherwise required by this code. The department may consult
> with an organization of old car hobbyists in determining
> whether the date of year of the license plate to be used
> corresponds to the model year date when the vehicle was
> manufactured.